Emmet Walsh

WALSH, Sr., Emmet Emmet Michael Walsh Sr. died on May 20, 2021, after a seven-year battle with Lewy body dementia. Emmet was a respected mechanical engineer who ran his own commercial HVAC company, Emmet M. Walsh Associates Inc., for 34 years in Atlanta. A proud Georgia Tech graduate, Emmet worked on landmarks around the city, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Georgia Tech's Technology Square, CHOA and Concourse Corporate Center V and VI. He sold his business to JEDCO Supply in 2016 and retired in 2018. Emmet was married to Catherine Poplin Walsh of Decatur, Georgia, for 53 years. They married March 24, 1968. They had two children, Emmet Michael Walsh Jr. of Loganville, Georgia, and Theresa Walsh Giarrusso, of Upper Montclair, New Jersey, and five grandchildren, whom he adored. Emmet was the last surviving child of six boys born to Mary Cecile Holland and Anthony Leonard Walsh, both deceased. The brothers, in birth order, were Tony, Steve, Emmet, Terence, Dennis and Johnny. They were born and raised in Savannah. Emmet was an inventor. He created a device to balance inaccessible dampers above a hard ceiling with a remote, for which he received a U.S. Patent. He created two games: Energy Systems by Walsh and a Rubik's Cube for blind people, called The Tex Cube by Walsh. Emmet graduated from Savannah High School in 1962s and attended Georgia Tech on a NROTC scholarship. After graduation in 1967, Emmet served four years in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Wrangell and USS Intrepid. In addition to his wife and children, Emmet is survived by his daughter-in-law Melanie Walsh, son-in-law Michael Giarrusso, and grandchildren Sadie and Maxwell Walsh and Cassandra Rose, Walsh and Lilina Giarrusso. Visitation and a viewing will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, May 28, at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Decatur. A funeral Mass will follow at 3 p.m. The Mass will stream on STM's website. Masks and social distancing will be required. A burial service will be held this summer in Savannah's Catholic Cemetery. Memorial donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association, online or mailed to LBDA, 912 Killian Hill Road, S.W. Lilburn, GA 30047.